AR Denarius, A.D. 196, Laodicia ad Mare, 19.0mm, 3.06g, 0°, RIC IV 491 a.
Obv: L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP VIII. Laureate head right.
Rev: PROVIDENTIA AVG. Providentia standing left, wand over orb in right, scepter in left.
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Lucius Septimius Severus Augustus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of Emperor Pertinax in 193 during the Year of the Five Emperors. After deposing and killing the incumbent emperor Didius Julianus, Severus fought his rival claimants, the generals Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus. Niger was defeated in 194 at the Battle of Issus in Cilicia, Albinus was defeated three years later at the Battle of Lugdunum in Gaul.

After solidifying his rule over the western provinces, Severus waged another successful war in the east against the Parthian Empire, sacking their capital Ctesiphon in 197 and expanding the eastern frontier to the Tigris. In 202, he campaigned in Africa and Mauretania against the Garamantes; capturing their capital Garama and expanding the Limes Tripolitanus along the southern frontier of the empire. Late in his reign he traveled to Britain, strengthening Hadrian's Wall and reoccupying the Antonine Wall. In 208 he began the conquest of Caledonia (Scotland), but his ambitions were cut short when he fell fatally ill. He withdrew to Eboracum (York) where he is famously said to have given the advice to his sons: "Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, and scorn all other men" before he died on February 4, 211.

Upon his death, Severus was deified by the Senate and succeeded by his sons, Caracalla and Geta, who were advised by his wife Julia Domna. Although his son Caracalla continued campaigning the following year, he soon settled for peace. The Romans never campaigned deep into Caledonia again and soon withdrew south permanently to Hadrian's Wall. The campaigns of Severus were costly and he was criticized by his contemporaries regarding taxation. However, he was the strong and able leader that Rome desperately needed at the time. Severus founded the Severan dynasty, the last dynasty of the empire before the Crisis of the Third Century.